Folate and cobalamin status, indicators, modulators, interactions, and reference ranges from early pregnancy until birth: the Reus-Tarragona birth cohort study.

Background: Folate and cobalamin status, although essential for pregnancy, are not routinely monitored in prenatal care.

Objectives: To investigate folate and cobalamin status and determinants throughout pregnancy, in the absence of mandatory folic acid (FA) fortification.

Methods: In a cohort study of 831 mothers recruited at <12 gestational weeks (GW), plasma folate, total homocysteine (tHcy), cobalamin, holotranscobalamin (holoTC), methylmalonic acid (MMA), red blood cell folate (RBCF), and the combined cobalamin status indicator (cB12) were determined at ≤12, 15, 24-27, 34 GW, labor and in the cord.

Pregnancy homocysteine and cobalamin status predict childhood metabolic health in the offspring.

Background: Inadequate pregnancy cobalamin status has been associated with adverse offspring metabolic health in Indian and Nepalese studies. Studies of pregnancy cobalamin status and mid-childhood health outside of Asia are scarce.

Methods: Associations between pregnancy fasting plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), cobalamin status (plasma cobalamin, holotranscobalamin (holoTC), methylmalonic acid (MMA)) and mid-childhood metabolic score (MetSco) ((including fat mass index (zFMI), homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (zHOMA-IR) and dyslipidemia (zTG - zHDLc)/2) z-scores)) were investigated in a prospective study of 293 mother-child dyads.